In earlier postings I made the conjecture that slime molds may take
to the air by filling a small sac with methane. Been slime molds
they could also gather in large groups and then if conditions were
right they would rise up in the atmosphere. We do see scum on
methane rich waters. A cool humid night just might do it.
Collapsing they would then produce a gel that would fall to the
ground and soon dissipate.
The more interesting question was whether such an assemblage could
also get into the Stratosphere, or even survive there. It is
certainly hard to see how they might survive direct sunlight in the
first instance.
Regardless we have a research problem. Simulate methane producing
scum and the proper environmental conditions and discover if we get
airborne slime molds. This is something that can be done as a school
project even in an aquarium with a lid.
Unidentified Fluid
Object baffles Scots boffins
By GRAEME DONOHOE
Published: 15th August
2012
BAFFLED hillwalkers
fear ALIENS have landed — after mysterious slime started appearing
in the countryside.
They have discovered a
strange jelly... and some experts believe it’s landed from space.
The first report of an
unidentified fluid object was in the Pentland Hills near Edinburgh,
triggering a flood of similar sightings.
Now National
Geographic Channel documentary Wild X Files attempts to solve the
mystery after they had the weird samples analysed by scientists.
Paranormal
investigator Steve Mera is convinced he was dealing with aliens after
a sample he collected DISAPPEARED.
He said: “I was
dumbfounded. I had no idea what it was.
“I thought ‘let’s
get some samples.’ The next morning, I saw the sample jar and I did
a double take as there was nothing in it. It was there the night
before, now it was empty.” Steve was sure he was dealing with star
jelly left over from a meteor shower. He said: “It comes from
space.”
Euan McIlwraith,
presenter of BBC show Out Of Doors, added: “A call came into the
studio from somebody who had been hillwalking and found this
substance. We knew we were on to something strange.
“There are lot of
people out there who believe it comes from the stars.”
Deer hunter Andy
Malcolm thought the goo was stag sperm — but this was ruled out
when perplexed fungal ecologist Dr Andy Turner found the samples
contained NO animal DNA.
He said: “We could
see almost no cellular structure within it so it was difficult to
determine what it was.”
Algal researcher Dr
Hans Sluiman found it “unlikely” that it was from a plant while
Prof Malcolm Kennedy, from Glasgow University, believes the jelly is
from frogs used for spawn.
He explained: “When
it’s made it has DNA excluded from it. When frogs come under
attack, fear causes them to expel the jelly normally used to protect
eggs.”
The National
Geographic Channel has declared the case closed but Euan said:
“There’s still that bit at the back of my head that isn’t
exactly convinced.”
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